Opinion: End stigma against offenders

According to the Vermont Department of Corrections, 1,768 people were on conditional re-entry/furlough during the 2014 fiscal year. They also reported that 49.7 percent of all inmates released in 2010 were recidivated within three years (which is close to the national average).

With these statistics, it is not surprising that the United States holds 25 percent of the world's prisoners but only 5 percent of the world's population. We incarcerate more people than all other countries in the world and about 1 in 31 American adults currently are either on probation, parole, or in prison.

Fortunately, the state of Vermont has been a leader in restorative justice practices for many years. With restorative justice, offenders take responsibility for their crime that was committed and victims and the community have the opportunity to speak about the impact of the offense. Together, the offender, victim, and community establish a meaningful plan for the offender to make amends. For some low-level offenses, this process might be an alternative to incarceration, which reduces the prison population and also the recidivism rate (Vermont Center for Justice Research).

This past spring semester as a senior sociology student at the University of Vermont, I had the amazing opportunity to intern at the Burlington Community Justice Center (CJC), which is part of Burlington's Community Economic and Development Office. They have many programs that focus on addressing the effects of crime and conflict in the community and work with responsible parties, affected parties, and members of the community.

The Burlington CJC office is a small but welcoming space with staff members who are friendly, helpful, and dedicated to their work. The work that they do has an incredible positive impact on the Burlington community and I am grateful I was able to work with the remarkable staff for a few months.

One of the most important features of the CJC is that it is a place of acceptance and is free of judgment. Offenders who come through the CJC are supported and given the tools needed to either re-enter into the community (if they have been incarcerated) or to repair the damage that was done during their offense (such as low-level crimes seen in Restorative Justice Panels, noise ordinance violations, or retail theft).

Although the CJC in no way condones breaking the law, they understand acceptance of the person is the key to helping people change their behavior. Unfortunately, many communities are not accepting, especially with re-entered offenders who have recently been released from prison or jail.

For purposes of this article, I am not talking about re-entered offenders who have done serious crimes that are horrific to even think about. However, there are many other people who have criminal records in our community who have been alienated from society.

Isolation has negative effects on re-entered people and also on the entire community. Offenders who are rejected by society have a more difficult time finding jobs, housing, help with achieving education and job skills, and treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues.

Without these basic needs, people are more likely to reoffend and end up back in prison. This means more resources and money being spent on these people who are being incarcerated again.

I want to reiterate that I do not think breaking the law is acceptable. However, I do believe that once offenders are released back into the community, it is our responsibility to accept them and teach them how to make better decisions for their future.

In the end, the entire community benefits and is able to truly thrive. For this reason, I highly support programs such as those at the Burlington Community Justice Center since they help keep people out of the prison system and give them the support that they need to lead wholesome and favorable lives.